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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Afghan human rights, women’s rights and civil society
organisations and networks publish today an open letter to Ms. Navy Pillay, UN
Human Rights Commissioner and draw her attention to serious human rights
violations and offer detailed recommendations to the Government of Afghanistan
and the International Criminal Court.

Open letter to Ms Navi Pillay, UN Human Rights Commissioner

25 September 2013

Kabul, Afghanistan

Dear Ms Pillay,

Your effective presence in Kabul last week was a great
opportunity for us, human rights and women’s rights organisations and networks.
You offered your observations and concerns in your press conference on 17
September 2013. Not only do we agree with you, we are happy that you have
endorsed our views.

The prospect of the withdrawal of international forces by the
end of 2014, combined with the release of the Taleban leaders from prison and
their increasing presence in important positions necessitate urgent measures to
guarantee and perpetuate the significant institutional and democratic
achievements since 2001, to ensure that Afghanistan shall not return to
extensive and systematic violation of human rights and shall not become a safe
haven for terrorism again. The hasty reconciliation with the Taleban without
paying necessary attention to human rights, which the Afghanistan government
and the international community are currently pursuing, shall be unsustainable
and is doomed to fail. This approach will lead to eradication of truth and
justice-seeking efforts, perpetuation of impunity and further human rights
violations. Such reconciliation shall not establish the foundations for a
lasting peace.

In the past few years, numerous national and international key
actors have distinguished between peace-building and negotiations with the
Taleban, women’s rights, human rights and transitional justice as separate and
unrelated issues. They have established numerous unrelated institutions and
claimed that the aforementioned processes are separable and have no impact on
one another. Nevertheless, experience of post-conflict countries has proved
that reconciliation without paying attention to truth and justice seeking shall
lead only to rehabilitation of perpetrators of serious violations of human
rights and ignoring rights of the victims.

We wish to draw your attention in particular to the following
pressing issues:

1. The increase in the number of civilian casualties as a result
of the growing terrorist operations and general insecurity means a systematic
violation of human rights. The government of Afghanistan and its supporters
must take effective measures to confront the insurgents and have a clear stand
on non-negotiable red lines. Without any clear signs of the Taleban’s intention
to respect rights of women, rights of victims and respect for justice, it is
not possible to make peace with people who cause death and injury to the
citizens of Afghanistan. The main actors are also sending worrying messages:
Unconditional pardon for and release of Taleban prisoners in Afghanistan and
Pakistan that has recently included key Taleban leaders (e.g. Mulla Abdul
Ghani, No. 2 in the Taleban leadership hierarchy), can only reinforce the
culture of impunity and pose a threat to a sustainable peace in Afghanistan.

In this regard, we are eagerly waiting for the independent
recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation of human rights
in Afghanistan and its assistance to the government to enhance the rule of law.
UN Human Rights Council is responsible for preventing the violation of human
rights.

2. A list of about 5,000 victims of the 1978-1979 period was
recently published by 8 Sobh, a national daily newspaper. The initiative was a
consolation for thousands of relatives of the victims who, despite the elapse
of several decades, did not know what had befallen their beloved. Thus, the
need for uncovering the truth and implementing justice has been underlined once
again.

The government of Afghanistan should:

Enshrine in its immediate agenda the revival and realisation of
the Action Plan for Justice, Peace and Reconciliation, which was included among
its tasks with its own approval in several national and international
documents.

3. Violence against women, failure of the Parliament to approve
the Law for Elimination of Violence against Women (which is in force by a
Presidential Decree), the widespread illiteracy of 90% of women and their lack
of access to education and health illustrate the acute conditions of women in
Afghanistan.

The government of Afghanistan should:

- Annul all discriminatory laws against women, in particular the
Marriage Law, the discriminatory provisions of the Penal Law and the Property
Law, the discriminatory traditional laws and the Law of Personal Status of the
Shiite;

- Take measures to put an end resort to mobile informal courts
and guarantee women’s full and effective access to the formal justice system;

- Enhance the implementation of the Law for Elimination of
Violence against Women, in coordination with the Prosecutor-General’s Office
throughout the country;

- Continue to improve women’s access to social rights, e.g.
health and education, and combat illiteracy among women nationwide;

- Always extensively consult and cooperate with women, civil
society organisations and the AIHRC to draft government reports to the UN
committees, in particular the Committee for Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW), to implement their concluding observations and the
recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women.

4. Despite considerable mobilisation of women in elections, the
new Election Law has reduced women’s seats in provincial councils from 25% to
20%, even though women had operated very successfully in those councils and
offered valuable service to the people. The Law has also eliminated women’s
quota in the District Councils. The serial and systematic kidnapping and
killings of women who are active in social and political fields, lack of
executive power of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, which the government and
its partners have given the greatest responsibility, the failure to achieve the
targets of the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) and
Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) – which have been formulated
with a spirit of equality for women and total elimination of sexual
discrimination – have sounded the alarm for women’s rights and achievements.

The government of Afghanistan should:

- Ensure women’s equal and effective (and not just symbolic)
participation in all stages of the peace talks, based on UN Security Council
Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security;

- Guarantee that the minimum 25% quota of seats in Parliament
allocated to women will not be modified in electoral law, and ensure that the
same quota is returned to women in Provincial Council elections;

- Appoint women to key positions in the government, the
judiciary and other decision making bodies; and

- Prosecute perpetrators and instigators of the killings and
kidnapping of women.

5. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission should
lead all peace-building processes and guarantee realisation of human rights in
the country. However, it has been marginalised and its access to international
mechanisms has been restricted.

The government of Afghanistan should:

- Appoint professionally and morally competent and qualified
persons to strengthen the AIHRC and guarantee its independence;

- Ensure the AIHRC’s participation in all peace and
reconciliation-related processes; and

- Publish immediately the full text of AIHRC’s ‘Conflict Mapping
Report’ on violations of human rights in Afghanistan during the war.

6. The justice system’s mechanisms have displayed their
inability and unwillingness to open serious investigations and prosecute
perpetrators of international crimes.

The ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor should:

- Publish regularly its detailed reports on its preliminary
analysis of Afghanistan and its activities concerning the principle of
complementarity of the court;

- Open investigations into the crimes committed in Afghanistan
since 2003 and respond to victims’ need for redress.

We thank you, Ms. Navi Pillay, for your consideration and look
forward to the pursuit of these indicators for an efficient and human rights
oriented development of Afghanistan, we wish you success in the important task
you have.